


Going in the Right Direction

by GeckoGirl89



Series: Hawaii Five-0 Episode 7.25 Coda [1]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Danny and Rachel friendship, Episode Tag, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Oblivious Steve, POV Danny "Danno" Williams, Pining, Post-Episode s07e25 Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono, Pre-Relationship, Sick Steve, Worried Danny Williams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-31 09:47:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10896780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeckoGirl89/pseuds/GeckoGirl89
Summary: The prospect of Steve getting sick or, God forbid, dying from radiation poisoning had been bothering Danny all night.





	Going in the Right Direction

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired by Danny and Steve's conversation near the end of the episode to write a fic. Also, I was inspired by the cargument about if Danny was still in love with Rachel, since Steve seemed adamant about it but Danny kept shaking his head as if to say no. I really hope the writers won't go with Danny trying to get back together with Rachel, even if we can't get McDanno, so for now, I'm interpreting Danny's head shaking to mean he isn't in love with Rachel and doesn't want to get back together with her.
> 
> There's a flashback conversation with Rachel that's set off with a section break and italics.
> 
> Update: There's now a sequel, "The Next Step" from Steve's POV. It's posted over here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/10991496

During the rest of the party, Danny was concerned about Kono's absence. It wasn't like her to skip out on Jerry's party to celebrate him getting a badge. Lou, Chin, and Steve were worried as well and hoped that Kono was okay and would explain why she never arrived.

But as concerned as he was for Kono, Steve was the main reason his gut felt like it had been twisted into knots tonight. By tomorrow he'll probably learn that everything was fine with Kono, and she will surely have a reasonable explanation for missing Jerry's party. But Steve won't be fine, and he will probably only get worse in the future. The prospect of Steve getting sick or, God forbid, dying from radiation poisoning had been bothering Danny all night. He barely managed to maintain his outward appearance of calm to respect Steve's privacy since he only just told Danny and certainly hasn't told anyone else. Steve tries to hide these kind of weaknesses from other people, probably because he doesn't want people worrying about him, but Danny always notices and worries regardless of what his partner tries to do.

Danny remembered Steve's sickly appearance from when he left the bathroom. The pale skin and completely exhausted expression reminded Danny uncomfortably of when Steve was shot in the liver a year ago.

Danny sighed as he shut off the engine to his car and looked over at Steve's house. The lights were still on which meant that Steve was probably awake and cleaning up after the party.

Danny had left about an hour earlier to drop off Charlie at Rachel's house. After saying goodnight to Charlie and helping Rachel tuck him in, Danny stayed to talk with her a bit. It wasn't like Steve assumed it was. Sure, Danny still cared about Rachel, and he had felt more protective of her since the divorce with Stan had rocked her world. But he wasn't entertaining the idea of getting back together with his ex-wife and he hadn't been thinking that way for a long time, not since she went back to Stan after their brief tryst his first year in Hawaii. Now that she wasn't with Stan, the fact that she had hid Charlie's paternity for him so long would make it impossible for Danny to trust her in the same way he had when they were together.

To be fair, Danny might have seemed a little overly solicitous of her, since most of their talks were about her ongoing divorce. But tonight, Rachel had more than paid back Danny's kindness by listening to him rant about his partner.

* * *

_Danny and Rachel had just finished putting Charlie to bed and walked out to the living room together. Danny plopped himself on the couch and leaned his head back against the headrest. He sighed and closed his eyes._

_Danny could hear Rachel sitting down next to him. "Danny, are you all right?"_

_Danny shook his head and opened his eyes. "I'm fine. Rough day, I guess."_

_Rachel frowned. "Do you want to talk about it? You've certainly done that enough for me, lately."_

_Danny shrugged. "Today wasn't that different than the usual. Just Steve being a self-sacrificing idiot and doing Captain America stunts." He didn't feel like he should bring up Steve's health problems to Rachel, not when Steve had obviously been keeping them a secret for a few weeks. Hell, Danny wasn't even sure if he could talk about it since talking would force him to confront the part of Danny's brain whispering to him that Steve could end up getting cancer from this. Danny was usually an open book when it came to his emotions, but he didn't want to expose his reaction to that notion to anyone._

_Rachel smiled lightly. "I'm assuming that you're referring to that daring rescue they played on the news earlier this afternoon? Jumping onto that truck was foolhardy, I suppose, but it was rather brave as well."_

_"Yeah, 'foolhardy.' No kidding." He rubbed his forehead, which was starting to become sore from all the tension he had carried that day. "Don't get me wrong, I was glad he wanted to save those girls, but Steve can be such a goddamned idiot sometimes."_

_Rachel's concerned expression returned. "This really bothers you, doesn't it?"_

_"The man has no sense of self-preservation," Danny replied. "It's like he doesn't even care about his own life sometimes, like he thinks it doesn't matter at all if he dies." Danny swallowed as he remembered their conversation outside the bathroom and Steve's insistence that he was "fine," even though he clearly wasn't. It took him a few seconds to catch his breath._

_"He acts so fucking blasé when it comes to his own life, and he doesn't get that people care about him. And it drives me up the wall, because I fall to pieces every time he gets himself hurt. If something bad ever happened to him, I honestly don't know how the hell I would deal with it, much less go on without him." Danny chuckled, but it was weak, hollow, and entirely devoid of humor._

_An awkward pause ensued before Rachel spoke. "That must be difficult. I think you ought to talk to Steve about this."_

_"It's not like I haven't tried. Believe me, nothing will get Steve to avoid taking stupid risks."_

_Her lips quirked upward in a smile that she quickly suppressed. It was one of her tells, and Danny could tell that she was amused by something._

_"I didn't mean **that**." She smirked, and Danny knew that meant trouble. "I meant that you might try telling Commander McGarrett that you're in love with him."_

_Danny's jaw dropped open before he snapped it closed. "What?! I-- what?! No!"_

_Rachel released a laugh with a snort. "Then why are you blushing?"_

_Danny scowled as he felt his blush deepening at Rachel's remark. He wanted to protest, but he clearly had his "tells" as well._

_Rachel finally managed to stop laughing at him and gazed at him with sympathy. "Danny, look, I know you, and I haven't heard you speak with that much passion in a long time. And you do realize that you sounded like his worried spouse just now?"_

_Danny rolled his eyes. He had heard the comments about he and Steve being "married" so many times from so many different people that it was like a broken record at this point. Although it wasn't like those comments didn't have a basis, even if Steve only ever saw him as a friend._

_"I really think you ought to tell him," Rachel concluded._

_Danny squirmed uncomfortably under her firm and steady gaze. "Can we talk about something else? How did your meeting go with the attorney go?"_

_Rachel raised an eyebrow, but she willingly went along with the subject change. She talked about her meeting with the divorce attorney for a while, and then Danny left, telling Rachel that he needed to go home. Danny had driven in that direction for a few minutes until he changed his mind and decided to go back to Steve's house._

* * *

Danny pulled himself out of his reverie. Thinking of his conversation with Rachel earlier would not help him, especially if Steve acted confused about why Danny was returning after he had said he was departing for the evening. He didn't really have an explanation for why he was here other than he felt like he needed to see Steve again and make sure that he wasn't faring any worse than he had been earlier. At the time, Danny had wanted to go full "mother hen" on Steve and force him to go to bed with a cool washcloth on his head. If he was still having one of his spells, he could do that now.

Danny got out of his car and quickly strode towards the house. He unlocked the door with his key and entered the living room. Steve glanced up from where he was putting used plastic cups into a trash bag and gave Danny a confused smile.

"Hey. I thought you said you were going home for the night?"

Danny shrugged, hoping that it looked casual. "I was, but then I thought I'd come back and help you clean up once the party was done."

Steve grinned and gave Danny a light pat on the shoulder. "Thanks, pal. I really appreciate it."

Danny tried to ignore the tingles in his arm that developed just from that brief contact, which was spectacularly pathetic of him, and went to pick up some of the trash in Steve's living room.

The pair worked together in silence for a few minutes until Danny decided to broach the real reason he came back. "Steve, how are you, really?"

Steve was looking in a different direction, and he didn't turn to face Danny. "I'm fine, like I told you earlier."

Danny was not rebuffed by Steve's dismissive answer. "No, you're not. You have radiation poisoning, and it's making you get so sick you looked like you were about to pass out earlier. And God knows what it might end up doing to you long-term."

Steve turned towards him and started to open his mouth to say something, but Danny cut him off with a stern glare before he could give him anything less than the full truth.

"I know you think you're 'fine' according to your own Superman definition of the term, but I need to know how you're doing in normal human terms. I saw how sick you were earlier, so, please, just go ahead and tell me."

Steve slumped against the wall he was standing next to and sighed. "Better than earlier, I guess. I'm kind of tired, but not as nauseous as before."

 _Steve must have been understating his level of exhaustion_ , Danny thought. He wouldn't have normally given in that easily.

"That's what I figured. You've had a long day today, so why don't you go to bed now? I can finish up here." Danny swept his arm expansively to indicate the living room, which was almost fully cleaned.

Steve shook his head. "Danny, no, c'mon, man. I can't impose on you like that."

Danny crossed his arms over his chest. "That wasn't exactly a suggestion, Steven."

Steve chuckled. "You're gonna make me go to bed? Maybe I should have gotten you a Mother's Day present. A card, at the very least." He turned and started walking off towards his bedroom. He paused in front of the stairs abruptly and gripped the banister for support.

Danny quickly went over to him. "You okay?"

Steve blinked in a daze. "Yeah, just got a little dizzy there for a sec. I'll be okay."

Danny reached up to feel Steve's forehead with the palm of his hand, which was worryingly warm. "Shit, babe, you've got a fever."

"It's nothing."

"It's definitely something," Danny muttered. He grasped Steve's right arm and draped it over his shoulders. "Come on, let's go upstairs."

Steve let Danny lead him upstairs but shook him off once they got into his bedroom. He removed his shoes and crawled under the covers. "I'm okay. I just have to rest for a little bit."

Danny shook his head fondly. "I'm getting you something to help the fever go down a little. Do you want the ceiling fan on?"

Steve nodded, so Danny went to turn on the ceiling fan before he went to Steve's bathroom. He came out a couple of minutes later with a damp washcloth, a couple of aspirin, and a glass of water. He kneeled next to the edge of Steve's bed. "Here. I got you some aspirin."

Steve sat up to take the aspirin and a few sips of water before he collapsed back onto the mattress with closed eyes. "You're definitely winning mother of the year right now," he joked.

Danny rolled his eyes and put the washcloth on Steve's forehead. "Yeah, yeah, I'm being a worried mother hen." He absentmindedly began to stroke Steve's hair near his temple.

Steve yawned and leaned his head into Danny's touch. "I appreciate it, though, that you're here with me. I know you'd rather be with Rachel right now, 'cause you're in love with her."

Danny gazed at the ceiling. If he was more religious, he'd be calling on a higher power to give him more patience when dealing with his persistent and oblivious partner. "I wouldn't rather be anywhere else right now. And I don't know how many times I have to tell you this, but there's nothing going on with me and Rachel."

Steve scoffed. "Yeah, okay. Whatever you say, Danny."

Danny's hand stilled in Steve's hair. "Steve, look at me." He opened his eyes, which were bleary but still able to focus on him. "I'm not in love with Rachel and I'm not thinking about getting back together with her, okay?" _I'm in love with **you** , dumbass_, he silently added.

He stared into Steve's eyes for a long moment, long enough to be uncomfortable considering how close they were. Danny was starting to think about leaning forward a few inches and closing the small gap between their lips when Steve nodded and closed his eyes, which broke the spell.

Danny cleared his throat to regain his composure. "Now get some rest, okay?"

"Okay, Danno."

Danny resumed carding his fingers through Steve's hair until his breathing slowed and he fell asleep. Danny quietly rose from the floor and walked to Steve's door. He gave Steve a lingering look before he left to finish cleaning up the living room as he had promised earlier. Danny knew that he would have to closely monitor how Steve was feeling in the future, and he hadn't even come close to telling Steve how he truly felt about him, but he felt like he was finally starting to take a step in the right direction.


End file.
